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    dCS Network Bridge Review

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    Who dCS aka data Conversion Systems from Cambridge in the United Kingdom. Creators of British designed, manufactured and assembled digital audio products. Think the Rolls Royce of HiFi build quality combined with McLaren performance. 

     

     

    What : The Network Bridge. A digital to digital converter with Ethernet input and digital audio output. The Network Bridge feature set includes Roon Ready support, UPnP / DLNA rendering, AirPlay, Tidal, Spotify, bit perfect output or down sampled output to match a DAC, MQA core decoding, and support or PCM up through 24/384 and DSD up through DSD128.

     

    dCS also provides its own iOS app for control and configuration of the Network Bridge. The app supports music stored on a network, locally attached hard drive, or streaming via Tidal and Spotify. People who don't want the complexity of a third party application or who like simple interfaces for just listening to music, will be very pleased with the dCS iOS app. 

     

    I like what dCS has done with the app in that it's very simple and straight forward. Users who want more features can easily add a Roon or DLNA server and fire up another app.

     


    When : Released in 2017 with an initial set of features that has been upgraded over time via firmware.

     


    Why : The Network Bridge is a product many manufacturers wish they'd have built. The Bridge not only breathes life into legacy DACs from dCS and others, but it also enhances the features and sonic quality of many current DACs. Many legacy DACs feature S/PDIF or AES inputs that support various sample rates but don't have other digital inputs that enable network streaming or remote control or any of the other aforementioned features. Attaching the Network Bridge to these DACs essentially creates a new digital system very close to what's currently available. For example, there are sonic qualities to the older dCS Scarlatti DACs that I just love. Whether this is me being nostalgic or not is beside the point that the Network Bridge can turn a Scarlatti into a product that wasn't even conceived when it was released in 2007.

     

    Enhancing new DACs with a Network Bridge is another huge benefit. Let's face it, many DACs aren't cheap. Nobody likes to put one on the shelf and by a new one because of missing features. Adding a Network Bridge to DAC immediately enables all of the above features. For example, adding the Bridge to an upgraded Berkeley Audio Design DAC not only enhances its feature set greatly but also provides a core decoded MQA stream for the DAC to render. Don't care about more features? No problem. Adding the Network Bridge to a Schiit Yggdrasil and connecting it via AES can improve the sound quality greatly. 

     

    One huge benefit to many music lovers on the Roon bandwagon is the fact that the Bridge turns almost any DAC into a Roon endpoint. If the DAC can connect to the Bridge, Roon will be able to send it audio. Technically the Bridge is the Roon ready endpoint, but when viewed as a system of Bridge + DAC, the difference is neither here nor there. 

     

     

     

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    Listening

     

    The dCS Network Bridge is all about listening to music through whatever DAC one has in the system. My main system for this review consisted of Ethernet into the Network bridge, AES into the Berkeley Audio Design Alpha DAC RS2 MQA, Balanced XLR into Constellation Audio Inspiration monoblocks, into TAD CR1 loudspeakers. I used many different sources of music including JRiver for UPnP/DLNA, Roon, dCS iOS app, Tidal, Spotify, AirPlay from iPhone 8, and a local solid state USB drive attached to the Bridge.

     

    Here are my listening impressions of the Network Bridge.


    Chet Baker's album by the simple name Chet is an all time favorite of mine, especially the unobtainable Analogue Productions remaster. I recently stumbled upon an album with many of the same tracks called The Complete Legendary Sessions, with Chet Baker and Bill Evans. This album also sounds wonderful, with nearly zero dynamic range compression (DR 16) and a touch less tape noise in the background. Sure Chet and Bill are the headliners, but Pepper Adams steals the show on his baritone saxophone. 

     

    Listening to track one, Alone Together, through the dCS Network Bridge / Berkeley Audio Design combination, Chet's opening trumpet intro sounded fantastic. The best piece of this from a geeky audio perspective was the bleed-through that could be heard as Chet's trumpet emanated from the left channel but trailed off in both the left and right channels. There is a delicacy to the decay of the trumpet in the right channel that enables the listener to draw a complete diagram of the recording space in one's head. 

     

    At 1:19 when Pepper Adams eases his baritone sax into the track and quickly ramps it up, is when this track absolutely pulled me in emotionally. I was no longer judging or reviewing an audio component. I was placed center-stage between Chet on the left and Pepper on the right, with both bleeding into the center of the soundstage. The dCS Network Bridge really delivered a pristine audio signal to the Alpha DAC RS2 MQA, enabling me to immerse myself in both the old school recording techniques that allowed instruments to bleed into both channels, but more importantly into the feelings and fascination this track evoked. 


    Giving the Network bridge a chance to show its stuff in another way, I played the 2012 Mobile Fidelity remaster of Bob Dylan's The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. This album was stored as DSD files on a 1TB bus powered solid state drive connected directly to the back of the Network Bridge. 

     

    Two things to note about this configuration.

     

    1. Berkeley DACs don't support DSD. Fortunately the Network Bridge has a powerful FPGA that performs an integer down sample to 24 bit / 176.4 kHz PCM for output to the Berkeley over AES. Connected to legacy dCS DACs this feature can be used to convert DXD or DSD128 to 24 bit and either 192, 176.4, 96, or 88.2 kHz, over single or dual wire connections. DSD64 is accepted into any legacy dCS DAC and won't need conversion. This down sampling could take place in a number of third party software applications, but not everyone uses a third party app with quality DSP and some people want to use the dCS iOS app without relying on another company for features, support, and in some cases increased complexity. This brings me to number 2.

     

    2. The Network Bridge USB input worked very well with a connected a hard drive. If I didn't have several terabytes of music, I would definitely store all my music on an SSD connected to the Network Bridge. The dCS iOS app offers the basics without any complexity. Navigating the USB drive is as simple as tapping the USB drive from the home screen and browsing the folders on the drive. It's really a no nonsense, get down to listening style of playback. I should also mention that the only network requirement for playing music this way is a stable network at any speed. The Network Bridge only receives commands via the network rather than audio files traversing the network. Adding Tidal is a different story, but not relevant to this method of playback.


    Back to The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. As soon as I pressed play on Girl From the North Country, I was immediately pleased with the expansive soundstage. Dylan's nasally voice was crisp, clear and appropriately large right between my TAD CR1 loudspeakers. Listening closer to Dylan's vocal in the opening verse, I heard his breath on the microphone for the first time that I can remember. I'm sure it has always been on the recording, but I'd never noticed it previous to using the Network Bridge with the Alpha DAC RS2 MQA. In addition to Dylan's vocal, two other aspects of this track are worth noting. The texture and depth of his acoustic guitar from start to finish are excellent. The guitar strings strummed or individually plucked in many cases had a depth or air around them giving away clues to the recording environment and instrument selection. All these seemingly separate sonic pieces came together incredibly well through this dCS / Berkeley combo, into a singular expansive soundstage. Well done dCS.

     

    The last aspect I must mention is the obnoxious level of Dylan's harmonica at the end of the track. Certainly not the fault of dCS for reproducing exactly what's on the recording, but in this case reproducing exactly what's on the recording resulted in a painful listening experience. I now understand why people use volume leveling, although it would be sacrilegious for such a transparent product like the Network Bridge to offer it as a feature. 


    What good would a HiFi review be without mentioning MQA? Only kidding. I bring up the topic as MQA is a feature of both the Berkeley DAC and dCS Network Bridge, but in ways that both need each other in my system. Berkeley DACs only do the final rendering stage of the MQA process, while the Network Bridge handles the more resource intensive initial decoding of the process. Some call what the Bridge does the first unfold of the MQA origami. Keep in mind that the Bridge will handle the MQA decoding for output to a non-MQA DAC as well.

     

    Streaming the MQA version of the title track to Nina Simone's album I Put a Spell on You via Tidal, I immediately notice two things. The letters MQA were present on the Berkeley's front panel and the MQA version of the track was substantially louder than the non-MQA version. I have no idea if these two versions originate from the same master, but they sounded very different. In the interest of getting this review done I only conducted a cursory investigation into the level differences heard as this isn't a referendum on MQA. It's a review of the dCS Network Bridge, a product that supports MQA decoding for audio delivery to a DAC that may or may not be an MQA renderer. 

     

    The MQA version of the title track sounded a bit synthetic through the dCS / Berkeley combination. Nina's vocal was incredibly centered. Perhaps a touch small or over focused for lack of a better description. 

     

    I played the non-MQA version of the album from Tidal and increased the volume in an attempt to match the levels of the two versions. The sound seemed like it was uncompressed or unzipped to use a more computer related term. I don't mean uncompressed in the technical sense of file compression or dynamic range compression. Rather I mean it more like a flower blooming with pedals expanding from the center on all sides. The horn in the left channel was now very pleasant, with a smoothness but also appropriate decay that didn't memorialize the sound. This smoothness wasn't like a vacuum tube type of sound, but rather a rightness. The instruments sounded more like the real instruments I'm used to hearing during my trillion hours of listening to music as a career. Only joking about the trillion hours, but as serious as a heart attack about the terrific sound I heard through the dCS Network Bridge playing Nina Simone's I Put a Spell on You. 

     

    Again, this isn't a referendum on MQA. My comparisons were very unscientific, but gave me some information for a subsequent article that may be helpful to readers comparing MQA to standard PCM. Fortunately the Bridge enables the listener to decode the MQA material available to compare with standard PCM and make individual determinations per track, album, or even DAC. 

     

    I listened through the dCS Network Bridge connected to many DACs over the last several weeks. Of note was the absolutely stellar performance I was able to pull out of the Schiit Yggdrasil via its AES input being fed by the Bridge. Does it make sense to spend $4,750 on the Network Bridge to driver audio to a $2,399 DAC? It's obviously a question that can only be answered by each individual, but given the performance improvement I heard, I believe it's well worth the cost. Plus, the Yggdrasil is in the same boat as the Berkeley with respect to not playing native DSD content. The Network Bridge converts DSD to PCM on the fly in its FPGA for input in to the Yggy. No hiccups and a performance boost worthy of a DAC much more expensive than the sum of the two component's parts. 


    Because I used the Berkeley DAC for the majority of my listening through the Network Bridge, I had to test the HDCD encoded albums from Keith Johnson and Reference Recordings. Britten's The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra performed by Michael Stern's Kansas City Symphony, is a nice piece of music that's excellently recorded. This "track" has a dynamic range value of 25! It isn't for the car or an environment that isn't extremely quiet. The bombastic beginning of this 24/176.4 track (HDCD indicator illuminated on the DAC), had fantastic transients through the dCS Network Bridge. This may be the result of the dCS proprietary architecture that's used in Vivaldi, Rossini and yes the Network Bridge to minimize jitter. Nothing rounds the edges of transients and memorializes events quite like too much jitter. Fortunately there wasn't a hint of of either sonic issue through the Bridge. Continuing down the winding road of the 17 minute track, I heard very exquisite and very soft flutes floating in space, yet placed just left of center in the soundstage. Whether the track called for reproduction of gigantic transients and loud horns and drums or tiny little flutes or a soft wave of strings, the dCS Network Bridge delivered a transparent stream of audio to the DAC. 

     

     

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    click the image for detailed Network Bridge photos

     

     

     

     

    Conclusion 

     

    The dCS Network Bridge is a terrific product for both its raison d'etre and the bottom line of superb sound quality. Rather than obsoleting several generations of high performing legacy dCS DACs, the company created a product that bridged the gap between old and new. Thus, the Network Bridge. In addition to dCS owners, enthusiasts with countless numbers of legacy DACs from different manufacturers will also benefit from the Bridge. The Network Bridge breathes new life into new products as well. Connecting it to DACs from Berkeley Audio Design and Schiit Audio, among many others, accomplishes what these manufacturers don't on their own. That is provide a network interface, UPnP/DLNA, AirPlay, Spotify, Tidal, USB storage, DSD/DXD down sampling, MQA decoding, and more for delivery into the DAC. 
     

    The dCS Network Bridge is second to none with respect to the sound quality of products that I've heard in this category. From the smooth trumpet of Chet Baker and the lush baritone sax of Pepper Adams to the most dynamic symphonic recordings of Keith Johnson, the dCS Network Bridge delivers the music in all its glory. It was just as easy for me to get emotionally sucked into Nina Simone's 1965 album I Put a Spell On You as it was for me to get lost in Pearl Jam live from Fenway park at 24 bit / 96 kHz. Recording artists in a single room may be a vestige of the past, but the technique can produce sonic treasures of a bygone era. Through the dCS Network Bridge I heard amazing yet subtle decay from one channel to another as the sound of instruments bled into other microphones. 

     

    Listening through the Network Bridge for three straight hours over the weekend was a special treat that doesn't happen often and helped solidify the Bridge's standing at the top of the digital converter mountain. Experiences like this are what our wonderful hobby is all about. Getting closer to the music. CA Approved and C.A.S.H. Listed.

     


     


    Product Informtion:

    • Product - dCS, Network Bridge ($4,750)
    • Product Page - Link
    • Product User Manual - Link (PDF)

     

     

    Where to Buy:

     

    The Network Bridge is now available for purchase online through the dCS brand boutique on Superphonica1.

     

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    Associated Music:

     

     

     

     

    Associated Equipment:

     

     

    1 Neither Superphonica nor Computer Audiophile receive a commission on the sale of goods through the dCS brand boutique.




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    Stereophile reviewed dcs NB a while ago and there was a mention that SQ from roon is less than from its own player.  Other members on CA do feel substantial improvement from employing dcs NB box (or Aries G2 box). I, too, am curious if dcs NB would produce higher jump than, say, hqplayer/AO/jplay/fidelizer/iso-regen/....... I guess I will ask for a demo unit and find out myself. 

     

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    Since Network Bridge accepts data from UPnP, HQPlayer Embedded should be compatible as a UPnP renderer.

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    I am finally intrigued enough to consider this in addition to my Aurender but appreciate help.

     

    I presently run Aurender S10 (USB) --> Berkeley alpha USB (AES out) -- Meitner MA1

     

    Since I am already using the AES off the Alpha USB to the Meitner, should I then use SPDIF from DCS Network Bridge to Meitner MA-1.  I am concerned about jitter issues with SPDIF (less of a concern with DCS clocking?)and the quality of a SPDIF input o the Meitner or other DACs as I have only used USB and AES previously.

     

    I figured I'd post this here as I am guessing others that would consider adding this would have similar possible issues

     

    Thanks!

     

     

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    24 minutes ago, blaven said:

    I am finally intrigued enough to consider this in addition to my Aurender but appreciate help.

     

    I presently run Aurender S10 (USB) --> Berkeley alpha USB (AES out) -- Meitner MA1

     

    Since I am already using the AES off the Alpha USB to the Meitner, should I then use SPDIF from DCS Network Bridge to Meitner MA-1.  I am concerned about jitter issues with SPDIF (less of a concern with DCS clocking?)and the quality of a SPDIF input o the Meitner or other DACs as I have only used USB and AES previously.

     

    I figured I'd post this here as I am guessing others that would consider adding this would have similar possible issues

     

    Thanks!

     

     

    Hi Blaven - It will likely be a trial and error thing to get the best sound quality. I’d have both an AES and S/PDIF cable and try each interface on each device. There are variables such as which one is best on the D to D converter and D to A converter. 

     

    Part of the fun is spending time listening to every configuration possible and deciding for yourself. 

     

    If the MA1 has BNC that’s a plus as well. 

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    Thanks.   The MA1 does have a BNC. I would definitely try all the options- agree wholeheartedly that is the fun. 

     

    I would ideally have a situation though where both the Aurender and the DCS network bridge could be connected to the DAC at the same time to avoid the hassle of repetitively unplugging the ARS (likely best off both DCS and Alpha USB) each time I listen to one or the other path. 

     

    Given the ideal  set up of having both connected to the DAC at the same time, I’m guessing it likely would be SPDIF off the Bridge.  

     

    Perhaps the DCS re-clocking helps with jitter issues known to SPDIF?

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    23 hours ago, blaven said:

    Thanks.   The MA1 does have a BNC. I would definitely try all the options- agree wholeheartedly that is the fun. 

     

    I would ideally have a situation though where both the Aurender and the DCS network bridge could be connected to the DAC at the same time to avoid the hassle of repetitively unplugging the ARS (likely best off both DCS and Alpha USB) each time I listen to one or the other path. 

     

    Given the ideal  set up of having both connected to the DAC at the same time, I’m guessing it likely would be SPDIF off the Bridge.  

     

    Perhaps the DCS re-clocking helps with jitter issues known to SPDIF?

    so it does reclocking internally, does it shares clock sync with the DAC over AES? any plans to go beyond DSD128 to DSD512?

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    Very good review. This is a very expensive toy.  Could someone recommend AES output gear for 1/2 or 1/3 of the price ---for an Yggy owner ?

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    44 minutes ago, Vinh said:

    Very good review. This is a very expensive toy.  Could someone recommend AES output gear for 1/2 or 1/3 of the price ---for an Yggy owner ?

    Bricasti M5. A little over half the price. I am very happy with mine.

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    Thanks for the review. It is too bad they still don't support a USB DAC connection, I had to remove this from my list of equipment I was looking at a while ago. I'm glad I didn't make a purchase as it seems they still don't have USB working for a DAC connection.  

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    5 hours ago, Vinh said:

    Very good review. This is a very expensive toy.  Could someone recommend AES output gear for 1/2 or 1/3 of the price ---for an Yggy owner ?

    Been using an Audio Alchemy DMP-1 with the Yggdrasil for quite some time.  Works nicely.  Not sure where you might find one these days.  Got mine for just under $1k when Audio Adviser was offering them.  Might want to contact ELAC as they now own the line of Audio Alchemy products.

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    Thanks, very good suggestions.

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    On 6/21/2018 at 2:18 AM, stevebythebay said:

    Been using an Audio Alchemy DMP-1 with the Yggdrasil for quite some time.  Works nicely.  Not sure where you might find one these days.  Got mine for just under $1k when Audio Adviser was offering them.  Might want to contact ELAC as they now own the line of Audio Alchemy products.

    Had a search the other day and Elac for sure under their banner, but very little in the way of online dealers that list the alchemy.

     If anyone can share a recent experience to find a supplier would be keen to follow through.

     

    Did the DSD click on track change resolve with the dcs network bridge?

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    5 hours ago, AMP said:

     

    Reclocking is one of those words that is so overused in marketing fluff that it's tough to determine what it actually means. In fact, it's a made-up word that has no meaning at all ;)

     

    Network data (audio or otherwise) is transmitted asynchronously which by definition means that it is not dependent on any clocking reference that corresponds to any other clock. "Clocking" in the digital audio sense is only an applicable term when we're talking about synchronous transfer mechanisms like AES, SPDIF, SDIF, TOS, I2S, etc. While the physical layer of Ethernet relies on an oscillator to time pulses on the wire, that clock has no relation whatsoever to the clock in the DAC.

     

    Furthermore, all network streaming devices (really all network devices) make use of memory buffers to temporarily hold the data packets and either re-packetize them for transfer back over the network or hold them for reassembly. In the case of a streaming device there's a memory buffer that's filled to a safe level from the network and metered out according to the audio clock rate. In the case of the network bridge the clock reference used to roll data out of that buffer is either one of the internal oscillators or an external word clock.

     

    The "clock" in the audio sense doesn't come into play until the data is moved out of the network buffer an is prepared for transmission to the DAC. At that point it becomes synchronous, is processed in real-time, and the clock becomes incredibly important.

     

    The vast majority of the "reclockers" on the market (network or otherwise) are simple store-and-forward buffers. Nothing magic about them and, frankly, they're likely to do more harm than good. Remember, you can never make bit-perfect data more perfect, but you can sure as hell screw it up!

     

    Thank you so much sir for making us understand the technicalities 

    It was surely an eye opener for me 

    So the preferred connection should ideally be the network input for streaming of data with the way it's implemented 

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    6 hours ago, AMP said:

    The vast majority of the "reclockers" on the market (network or otherwise) are simple store-and-forward buffers. Nothing magic about them and, frankly, they're likely to do more harm than good.

    +10

     

    There are at least 4 or 5 store-and-forward layers in sequence from the nic hardware until a packet reaches the user application. For one there is a common network algorothm employed by every OS called interrupt moderation. 

     

    One should be more worried about newly introduced harming components like AC noise, network cable noise, EMI/EMF, etc. from those non-synchronous components in your system. 

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    9 hours ago, AMP said:

     

    Reclocking is one of those words that is so overused in marketing fluff that it's tough to determine what it actually means. In fact, it's a made-up word that has no meaning at all ;)

     

    Network data (audio or otherwise) is transmitted asynchronously which by definition means that it is not dependent on any clocking reference that corresponds to any other clock. "Clocking" in the digital audio sense is only an applicable term when we're talking about synchronous transfer mechanisms like AES, SPDIF, SDIF, TOS, I2S, etc. While the physical layer of Ethernet relies on an oscillator to time pulses on the wire, that clock has no relation whatsoever to the clock in the DAC.

     

    Furthermore, all network streaming devices (really all network devices) make use of memory buffers to temporarily hold the data packets and either re-packetize them for transfer back over the network or hold them for reassembly. In the case of a streaming device there's a memory buffer that's filled to a safe level from the network and metered out according to the audio clock rate. In the case of the network bridge the clock reference used to roll data out of that buffer is either one of the internal oscillators or an external word clock.

     

    The "clock" in the audio sense doesn't come into play until the data is moved out of the network buffer an is prepared for transmission to the DAC. At that point it becomes synchronous, is processed in real-time, and the clock becomes incredibly important.

     

    The vast majority of the "reclockers" on the market (network or otherwise) are simple store-and-forward buffers. Nothing magic about them and, frankly, they're likely to do more harm than good. Remember, you can never make bit-perfect data more perfect, but you can sure as hell screw it up!

    This is interesting and very relevant to my current situation.  I have a dealer that is happy to lend me their demo Network Bridge for a few days next month.  I already own a Mutec REF10 and MC3+USB (probably one of the better "store and forward" clock devices:))

     

    Anyway, obviously I want to demo the NB in the best possible way that I can.  It occurs to me that there are different ways I could configure my set-up. 

     

    1. I could use the REF10 to provide the reference to the MC3+USB, then simply run the system Ethernet to the NB, NB AES3 to the Referenced MC3+USB, MC3+USB AES3 to my Devialet amp.

     

    2. I could use the REF10 to provide the reference to the MC3+USB, and then use the MC3+USB to provide a 48kHz word clock to the NB.  I could then run Roon up-sampling everything to 192kHz to the NB, and connect the NB direct to the Devialet via AES3.  (Also, in time I could add an additional MC3 to provide both 44.1 and 48kHz word clock signals to the NB)

     

    I see 1) having the advantage of only requiring one external clock connection compared to two external clock connections for 2)

     

    I see 2 as having the advantage of a more direct signal path to the Devialet.

     

    Any idea which is best from a technical perspective?  Or is it a case of try it and see?

     

    Other options would be to get the MC3+USB to provide a word clock to the NB, and feed the NB's AES3 feed through the referenced MC3+USB.  Maybe too radical or problematic?  A final option would be to run the NB without the Mutec kit, nice and simple.

     

    Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

     

     

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    3 minutes ago, Confused said:

    This is interesting and very relevant to my current situation.  I have a dealer that is happy to lend me their demo Network Bridge for a few days next month.  I already own a Mutec REF10 and MC3+USB (probably one of the better "store and forward" clock devices:))

     

    Anyway, obviously I want to demo the NB in the best possible way that I can.  It occurs to me that there are different ways I could configure my set-up. 

     

    1. I could use the REF10 to provide the reference to the MC3+USB, then simply run the system Ethernet to the NB, NB AES3 to the Referenced MC3+USB, MC3+USB AES3 to my Devialet amp.

     

    2. I could use the REF10 to provide the reference to the MC3+USB, and then use the MC3+USB to provide a 48kHz word clock to the NB.  I could then run Roon up-sampling everything to 192kHz to the NB, and connect the NB direct to the Devialet via AES3.  (Also, in time I could add an additional MC3 to provide both 44.1 and 48kHz word clock signals to the NB)

     

    I see 1) having the advantage of only requiring one external clock connection compared to two external clock connections for 2)

     

    I see 2 as having the advantage of a more direct signal path to the Devialet.

     

    Any idea which is best from a technical perspective?  Or is it a case of try it and see?

     

    Other options would be to get the MC3+USB to provide a word clock to the NB, and feed the NB's AES3 feed through the referenced MC3+USB.  Maybe too radical or problematic?  A final option would be to run the NB without the Mutec kit, nice and simple.

     

    Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

     

     

    I would try running the NB straight into the Devialet via AES without using the Mutec devices as well. 

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    On 6/26/2018 at 10:32 AM, The Computer Audiophile said:

    I would try running the NB straight

    Would the NB work into a Naim 272 DAC and preamp?

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    7 minutes ago, JamesBardsley said:

    Would the NB work into a Naim 272 DAC and preamp?

    It looks like that DAC has S/PDIF inputs on via RCA interface. The Bridge has an S/PDIF output on the same interface so it will work just fine. 

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    12 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

    The Bridge has an S/PDIF output on the same interface so it will work just fine.  

    Thanks. The dCS NB is Roon Ready. Does this means it can act as a Roon endpoint, but not run the Roon Core? As I understand it I'd have to get the Roon Core running on a Roon Nucleus or a NUC or a PC or similar as well.

    This is important from a budget planning POV as well as a box count, connectivity and technical POV.

    I was planning to get the dCS NB instead of Roon.

    My worry is that the dCS app will not be good enough to keep me using it forever, so I'll end up on Roon anyway.

    If I'm getting Roon anyway, then the MQA unfold comes with that.

    So then the dCS NB becomes a very nice but very expensive Roon endpoint.

    So really I should spend that budget on a Roon Nucleus and a new DAC that is a Roon endpoint.

    Does that make sense?

    Any thoughts would be appreciated.

     

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    Just my $0.02 - go slow until you are sure what you want to do. 

     

    My advice, go with a separate PC, NUC, Mac mini, whatever as your Roon Core server. Load it with disk drives or whatever you need, stick it in a closet, on top of a shelf, somewhere away from whatever devices you use to play the music. 

     

    Then, choose those devices based upon what you like in a music player. I suggest low power discrete music players. My current favorite is a micro Rendu, which requires a separate DAC with USB input. There are of course, as many configurations as you can imagine, and almost all of those configurations will sound very good. Some better than others, of course, 

     

    But the point is to get those two functions separate. All-in-one units are nice, until you run into their limits or possibly if the manufacturer gets snippy with you about support. You will be amazed how much happier your life can become when you separate it out. Any problems with the server are computer problems, not musical issues!

     Not to mention, your phones and tables all become Roon Endpoints as well. Perhaps not the best sound in your home, but so convenient! 

     

    Again, YMMV, other people may disagree. etc., etc., etc... 

     

    -Paul 

     

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    6 hours ago, JamesBardsley said:

    Thanks. The dCS NB is Roon Ready. Does this means it can act as a Roon endpoint, but not run the Roon Core?

     

    The dcs Network Bridge is a Roon Endpoint, it doesn't have the horsepower to run Roon core, nor any facilities to install such an app.

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    19 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

    The Bridge has an S/PDIF output on the same interface so it will work just fine.  

    Thanks. Yes, I looked that up since asking it earlier today.

    I think if it's a toss up between Roon and the dCS NB then I should go with the dCS NB as this will cost about the same but it should improve the SQ of my syste significantly more than Roon.

    Correct?

     

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    17 minutes ago, JamesBardsley said:

    Thanks. Yes, I looked that up since asking it earlier today.

    I think if it's a toss up between Roon and the dCS NB then I should go with the dCS NB as this will cost about the same but it should improve the SQ of my syste significantly more than Roon.

    Correct?

     

     

    Umm- your question confuses me. The dCS is not a competitor for Roon, it is a Roon “endpoint” - like a Rendu, or a computer running the Roon Client. In fact, the dCS is a computer.

     

    You will still need Roon, or AirPlay, or one of the various UPnP servers to send music to it. 

     

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    15 minutes ago, Paul R said:

    Umm- your question confuses me. The dCS is not a competitor for Roon, it is a Roon “endpoint” - like a Rendu, or a computer running the Roon Client. In fact, the dCS is a computer.

     

    You will still need Roon, or AirPlay, or one of the various UPnP servers to send music to it.  

     

    Hi Paul

    I think there is a dCS app that can find Tidal files and control the dCS NB from an iPad.

    I understand that they serve many different functions, but I currently have the budget to get one or the other.

    Very roughly they cost about the same as for Roon you need something like NUC plus endpoint - in fact, if one gets the Nucleus+ and lifetime fee, then Roon costs more than the dCS NB.

    For me SQ is much more important than file access systems, apps, magazine format, etc.

    So I'm comparing the SQ uplift of the dCS NB vs the SQ uplift of Roon.

    And as far I can tell, the probable SQ uplift of the dCS NB on my current system (which already sounds great) is very likely to be larger than the SQ uplift of getting Roon.

    Does that make sense now?

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